1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of lotteries and is consistent with a prepaid wagering card, as well as a system and method for playing the lottery over a telephone line using a prepaid wagering card.
2. Background and Related Art
A lottery involves a drawing in which prizes are distributed to the winners among persons buying a chance. Commonly, a lottery player is required to select a small set of numbers from a larger set of numbers. Thereafter, the lottery is “drawn” on a predetermined day by randomly selecting a small set of numbers from the larger set of numbers, wherein winners are determined based on the correspondence of their selected numbers to the drawn numbers. Winners are awarded prizes, most commonly in the form of cash prizes, which can greatly exceed the amount wagered by a winning player.
Thus, a lottery is a form of gambling and is often regulated at the State level. This gambling usually involves the selection of numbers in a predefined order that is consistent with the rules of each game. The gambling can also encompass a scratch game. A scratch game can involve, for example, scratching or rubbing off covered spots on a ticket, with a winning ticket being determined based on the matching or specified alignment of play symbols on the ticket.
Today, only retailers who register with a State's lottery can accept wagers and distribute scratch card games.
In general, there are three conventional ways for a customer to place a wager in a lottery.
First, a customer can go to an authorized retailer and purchase a scratch card game. The customer determines whether he or she has won by scratching the card and reading the results.
Second, a customer can go to an authorized retailer and provide a series of number to the retailer or ask for a “quick pick”. The retailer, through a lottery-issued terminal, enters the numbers and provides a receipt for the wager, charging the customer the corresponding amount. In this case, the receipt will have a bar code that includes the play identification (PID), which is used by the lottery to identify a wager.
Third, a customer can apply for a subscription to the lottery in which the customer supplies the set of numbers to be played, the start date and the number of wagers to be played by filling out a form. These wagers are played sequentially until the amount of money supplied for the subscription is depleted.
Numerous disadvantages and problems arise in the context of the conventional approaches to participating in lotteries where the customer plays a set of numbers, i.e., the aforementioned second and third manners of placing wagers.
For example, the second approach requires a customer to visit an authorized retailer, provide a series of number to the retailer or ask for a “quick pick”, and receive a receipt indicating entry in the next drawing.
Thus, only retailers with lottery-issued terminals can accept a wager from a customer, which in turn may require the customer to travel a great distance and/or make an additional “stop” just for the purpose of playing the lottery. This inconvenience can be increased by other factors such as bad weather, holiday crowds, “off hours”—e.g., when the retailer is not open for business, etc.
As a further inconvenience, a customer needs to visit the retailer each time they wish to place a wager. In general, when a wager is placed at a retailer, it is only for the next upcoming “drawing”. Thus, if a customer is unable to reach an authorized retailer, for example because the customer is out of the State on business, the customer may be unable to place a wager for a desired lottery.
Furthermore, while a lottery may offer an “advance play” option wherein the customer can designate certain days to wager and a duration to wager those days, a customer is still unable to purchase the opportunity to wager but hold off on actually wagering, for example, until the jackpot level reaches their individual level of interest.
While the third approach, i.e., a subscription service, can remove the necessity of making frequent visits to the lottery retailer and can reduce the risk of being unable to place a desired wager, the subscription requires that the same set of numbers be played throughout the subscription.
The subscription approach is also inflexible in that the customer must play the wagers sequentially until the supplied amount of money is exhausted. Thus, a subscription does not allow the customer to “pick and choose” which games/drawings he or she desires to play.